How to make the audience cheer for the hero?

I noticed that some stories lately tend to make the readers root for the villain. Aside from making a well-written hero, I need other points to make the readers root for the hero.

I'm working on a reconstruction of the Magical Girl Genre (as mentioned in a topic here last month) and of course I'm making the protagonist relatable with the readers. And everytime she fights the Monster of the Week (and even if she wins every fight but not without injuries and consequences), I'm going for the part (most importantly) that the readers would just want to root for her. Any ideas?

Adversity. People cheer for the underdog. Perhaps your main character is almost always in over her head and ends up mostly using mundane means of defeating the Monster of the Week?

Great advice

Also, set up a Driving Question revolving around the hero. Will he Get The Girl? Will he make amends with his father? Will he prove himself to be a man? Will he pass his final exams? Set up a dilemma in the hero's life, something a lot more meaningful than just saving the world or surviving the alien invasion. Make it personal, something that a lot of people can relate to.

For me, I find myself rooting for heroes with some self esteem issues. Characters that feel weak and powerless, that have not found a purpose for their lives yet, they feel dependent on every one else to get by. Maybe their clumsy, or socially awkward, or emotionally unstable. The point is that they must not feel like heroes, but over the course of the story, they begin to trust themselves more and discover that they truly are heroes. I root for these type of characters because I often feel in the same boat as them. I want them to succeed, so that I can feel like I can succeed.

Oddly enough, if a villain has these qualities instead, I often root for them.

I noticed that some stories lately tend to make the readers root for the villain. Aside from making a well-written hero, I need other points to make the readers root for the hero.

It is not always a very easy thing to get the majority of people to root for the hero, let alone getting everyone to do it, you know?

Still if you want to attempt to do this you should first ask yourself "why should the audience root for this person or even care?"

Eh, I'm going to offer an alternative viewpoint here and say that I don't read stories for a hero I can relate to because of their mundane-ness. There may be a few exceptions that I can't care to name right now, but I generally do not care about a character's social life or romantic life or daddy issues, at least on their own.

Now, if those things factor into their goals and outlook on life, I may care. Usually the deciding factor is if I agree/identify with their goals, methods, and outlook on life. I can identify with someone like Dirty Harry or Tyler Durden because their ideologies are stuff I've fantasized about (stop looking at me like that .___.). I can cheer for Naruto because his determination is something I admire.

The problem here is that everybody has differing ideologies and such. I suppose you could try to appeal to the lowest common denominator and go for the safest morality/ideology, but that may not appeal to you.

The biggest thing for me is to make the character proactive, not just reactive. Villains Act, Heroes React is a big reason why I tend to like villains more.

Make the reader know what the cost would be if the hero lost. Make this involve something or (preferably) someone external to the hero. Make it something that the reader will care about being preserved.

This is huge, at least for my personal opinions on a character. The more proactive they are - hero or villain - the more I'll like them. Nothing is quite so irritating as the Pinball Protagonist who doesn't even try to play a role in the plot.

Also, minimize Wangst. Highly annoying, and in my experience seems to be one of the key factors in alienating readers from characters. Even if your protagonist has ample reason to angst, the less she does it, the better - at least to a certain point, anyway. You might even get an Iron Woobie out of the deal.

edited 28th Apr '11 10:19:11 PM by nrjxll

I root for whichever character is more well-realized. So, dispense with hero/villain thinking and just make characters.

After all, the audience will be all sorts of prepared to cast those roles for themselves...why spoil their fun?

Tell a story, and let the reader decide who is good and who is evil. They're going to do it anyway, and not always in the ways that you'd think they would.

edited 28th Apr '11 11:29:16 PM by drunkscriblerian

eh, sometimes proactive villains stop being likable because they're too proactive.

i remember seeing somewhere, a villain attacking a hero, which is what caused the hero to start going after them in the first place. had they not acted first they would not need to act at all, and it just seems stupid when that happens. theres also the times when villains attack heroes after heroes give up, convincing them to get back in the fight.

but yeah, a pinball hero is just irritating and should not exist really...

Well, the easiest way is to make a Crapsack World, and lotsa Black-and-Grey Morality. The key is to have a Good Is Not Nice character that tries (and partly succeeds) at making a small difference in the middle of the crap.

Still, I'm not sure that would work on a Magical Girl genre.

Pinball Protagonist's not always bad, I think. If the protagonist is a child, or otherwise expected to have very little control over his/her life, it's fine. And it can be used to great effect in a darker setting, where the protagonist being powerless to do anything about the situation adds to the horror. But when they have no real reason to be so ineffective, and plenty of reasons not to be, it gets annoying.